Fluid-operated tool



] April 1931- Q H. c. GUSTAFSON 1,

FLUID OPERATED TQOL Filed May 21. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l @Jvep 628757 7 April 1931- H. c. GUSTAFSON j 1,300,346

FLUID OPERATED TQOL Filed May 21, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet. 5 I

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COMPANY, or DENVER, COLORADO, a-oonromrroivor DELAWARE HJALMER c. GUSTAFSON, or DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR T GARD ER-DE VE rLUIn-orERerED 52001.

Application filed May a1, 1928. semi No.. 379,371

The object of the present invention is to provide a novel means for controllingthe operation of an automatic valve so as to stop it in a position to hold the piston stationary, with air or other motive fluid supplied to the piston chamber for hole cleaning purposes, the controlling means being such that it can be actuated either bya pushing movement or a pulling operation, thus making the valve adaptable for convenient use under different kinds of drilling operations.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of'a drillingtool, showing the novel controlling means in elevation.

Figure 2 is another view showing the controlling means in longitudinal section.

Figure 3 is a detail view of the controlling valve when shifted to a position to hold the member 9 is provided, which may be of any well known character and said cylinder member has a piston chamber 10, in which reciprocates a piston body 11 having a hammer extension 12. This piston'111'2 is provided with a chamber 13 to receive the usual rifle bar 1 1, and a passageway 15 leads fromthe front end of the chamber through the front end of the hammer extension 12, so that it constitutes a conduit for directing fluid from the rear portion of the piston chamber behind the piston through saidpiston, to the bore of a drill steel in a manner well under stood.

In rear of the iston chamber 10 and fitting into the rear en of the cylinder 9 is a valve casing 16 having an internal annular supply groove 17, with which is connected asup'ply passageway 18 leading from. any" suitable source. In front of'the supply groove 17*is a. distributing groove 19 and in rear of said supply groove .17. is another distributing groove'20. Behind the distributing groove 20 is an exhaust" groove 21 having communi catlon with atmosphere through the passage way, indicated at 22. Behind the exhaust groove 21 is a valve flange-receiving groove 23. 'The front distributing groove 19 is in communication with the rear end offthepis-' ton chamber through a series o f'port s 24 and the rear distributing groove 20 is in communication with the front end of the piston chamber by a passageway 25. The rear end of the flange-receiving groove '23 is incommunication with therearportion of the piston chamber by a trip passageway 26:"

Located within the valve casing'16 and spaced from the walls thereof is a plug 27 having a reduced frontfportion28, providing an abutment shoulder 29.- On said plug and within the casing is a reciprocatorydistribut ing valve ,30 havingat its rear end a flange 31 operating in the flange-receiving groove 23. The front end of the valve 30 is'movable to and from'a position tov cut off communica-; tion between the supply groove 17 and the front distributing groove'19, as will be clear.

by a comparison of'Figures 1 and 2. Said valve hasan externally reduced central portion 32 that is movable to and from a position to afford communication between the supply groove 17 and the rear distributing groove 20. This reduced portion furthermore is movable, to'and from a position to establish communication between thev dis tributing groove 20 and the exhaust'groo've 21. The front end ofthefvalve' 3O slidably fits the reduced portion 28 of theplug and thereby produces an internal pressure chain-- ber' 33, of ,which the shoulder 29 constitutes the rear wall and this chamber isgin constant communication with the supply groove 17 by ,portsb34 formed in the valve. The piston chamber 10 is normally open to atmosphere. through an exhaust port 35 that opens through the side wall of the cylinderand. is

traversed by'the pistol} head 11 r the normal operation is as follows: With the ing; the. pressure unt l its poweris sufii ient to 4.5

7.711, s hat a constan s pply o piston in its rear position, as shown in Figure 1, and with the distributing valve 30 in its rear position, motive fiuid,'such as air supplied through the passageway 18, will flow through the sup 1y groove 17, and passing the front end 0 the distributing valve 30, enter the rear end of the piston chamber through the ports 24, therebyrdrivin'g the.

piston forwardly- The exhaust. in advance of the piston takesplace partly through the port 35 until said port is coveredby' the piston and thereafter it will flow through the passageway 25, the rear distributing groove 20, the reduced portio 2, of the. val e 30, the exhaust groove 21 and the exhaust pa sageway 22, When the. piston is thereby advanced sufficiently it will uncover the inlet end Of: the passageway 26 and, the. air'under pressur will flowt rough said passageway and against the ear face of the flange 3T1 of the automatic distributin valve 30. Said valve will thereby be pushed, forwardly or to the po ition shown in Figure 2- N w e supply. of air to the, rear end of the piston chamber 10 is. cut off by the f ont end of th automatic. valvegbut at'the same time the. air distribut ng groove 20 is ope to the supp y groove 17 hy'the edueedportion 32 o e valve. Live," air will consequently flow through the passageway 2 to the front end 7 of the? pis n hamber; driving the pi rearwardly, v Incidentally the air behind the pist n. will artly exhaust through t e port 35, but it W51 also find its, way through the passageway 2 and to atm sphe e. through the exhaust passageway 22, heca se there s a reliei port 36. between said passageways 26 and 22- 'llhis relief por however, is of less capa ity than the passageway 26. When the piston crosses the'mouth of the, passageway;

26 it will trap air behind it, thereby i re spush'back theval e 3 and th s is readily accomp hed because of: the reduction in pressure beh nd the flange 31. due o the eakage of the air through said relief port 36.. V Now it is mpor ant feature, f this nve tion. to prov de means; for holding t e piston Ill-:12 at the front end of its stroke wi h. t e ex ens on 12 gainst the tool and wi air und r pr ssu e flo ing freelyi the piston. chamber 10 behind the piston body air under pres ure will: pas th eught e piston by" way of the chamber 1.3 anclfbore 15 to effect the cleansing, of; t e drill hole- T e fol owing meansis em .lo-yed for efiee ing this ery de sirable, resul i V Formed pon one side of the. cy nder member is an open-ended valvecasing 37 having a f n hamber 38 and a reduced nea h re hes wo. opening en irely through said casing 37. A reciprocatory plunger valve 40is located in the chamber 38 and has a rearwardly extending stem 41 in the chamber 39. A coiled spring 42, surrounding the stem and abutting against an internal flange 43 in the chamber, also abuts against a plunger head 44 fixed to, the stem 41, This spring obviously holds the valve in its rearmost position and the plunger head 44 projecting from the rear end of the casing 37 constitutesa thumb pieceby which "the,

is pushed or pulled forwardlyor to the 'positlon shown in Figure 8, said valve covers andcloses the exhaust port 35.

Extending from the valve casing 37 to the front end of thevalve flange receiving groove is a passageway 47 and opening from the rear portion of the piston chamber 10 into. the valve chamber 3:8 alongsidethe mouth of the passageway 47 is a port 49. When the controlling valve isin its rearniost position, the port 49 is cut off from the passageway 47, but said valve 40'has a transverse channel 5.0, which when the valve is pushed or pulled forwardly, affords communication between the port 49 and passageway 47 (see Figures 5 and 8). More than that, the valve 40 is provided with a relief port or passageway 51 which communicates with the outer end of the passageway 47 when the valve 40 is in its rearrnost. position and. said passageway at that time is also in communication with a port 52 formedv in the outer side of the valve casing 37'. 7'

It is believed that the operation of the structure can now be made clear; When the controlling valve 40 is inits rearmost position, the cylinder exhaust port 35 is open to atmosphere. The port 49 iszcut off from the passageway 47, but said passageway 47 1s open to atmosphere through the passageallowing air in front of said flange to pass:

outof the groove 23 and return'into it as the flange reclprocates. When it 1s desired to clean out a drill hole the operator has only to pull or push forwardly the controlling valve 40, This closes the exhaust port 35 and at the sametime cuts oil the passageway 47 from atmosphere, but couples it up, to the rear portion of the piston chamber "throughthe port 49 andgroove 50 in the valve. 7 The result is that as the piston advances, the air under pressure behind it find its way through the passageway 47 and against the front end of the valve flange 31. This holds the valve H therefore under pressure will flow from the piston chamber through the chamber 13 and bore 15 in the piston to the bore of the drill steel. As soon as the valve 40 is released, it

will return toit original position or a shown in Figure 2 and the drilling mechanism will again be started in normal operation.

The structure shown in Figures 6 and 7 is substantially the same as that already described, except that the spring 12 abuts a cross pin 44a on the valve stem tl. The cross pin has its ends engaged in slots 39a of the valve casing 37, and this prevents the rotation of the valve while permitting its recip rocation.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction, operation and many advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion and minor details of constructionmay be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim, is:

1. In a tool of the character set forth, the combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber, of a piston in the chamber, an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to actuate the piston, means for supplying fluid from the piston chamber to the automatic valve to hold it against automatic movement, and a reciprocatory valve for controlling the sup M ply of holding fluid by said means to the automatic valve.

'2. In a tool of the character set forth, the combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber, of a piston in the chamber, an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to'actuate the piston, means for supplying fluid from the piston chamber behind the piston to the automatic valve to hold it against automatic movement and in a position to deliver motive fluid behind the piston, and a 'reciprocatory valve controlling the supply of holding fluid by said means to the automatic valve.

3. Ina tool of the character set forth, the

- combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber, of a piston in the chamber, an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to actuate the piston, means for supplying fluid from the piston chamber behind the piston to the automatic valve to hold itagainst automatic movement and in a position to deliver motive fluid behind the piston, said cylinder member also having an exhaust for fluid behind the piston, and a'reciprocatory valve controlling the supply of holding fluid by said means to the automatic valve and also cone trolling the said exhaust.

4. Ina tool of the character set-forth, the combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber, and-a piston operating inthe chamber, of an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to actuate the piston, said cylinder meme ber having a port forexhausting fluid from the piston chamber and having apassageway leading from the piston chamber to the automatic valve for supplying fluid to the latter to hold it in a position tosupply fluid ,tOjthQ piston chamber for drillzhole cleaning P111: poses, and a valve movable to one position to close the exhaust port and open the passageway and to another position'to close the pas-, sageway and open the exhaust.

5. In a tool of the character set forth, the

combination with .a cylinder member'havinga piston chamber anda piston operating in the chamber, of an; automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to actuatethe piston, said cylinder menuber having a port for exhausting fluid from the piston chamber and having apasslageway leading from the piston chamber to the automatic valve for supplying fluid to the latter to hold it in a position to supplylfluid to the piston chamber for drill hole cleaning purposes, an open ended valve chamberon the cylinder member, and a valve in the chamber movable to one position to, close the exhaust port and openthe passageway and to another position to close the passageway andopen the exhaust, said valve having actuating means at both ends of its valve casing. .5 I

6. In a tool of the character set forth, the combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber and a piston operating in the chamber, of an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to actuate the piston, an open-ended valve chamber on one side of the cylinder member, said cylinder member having an exhaust port adjacent said chamber, a fluid supply passageway leading from the chamber to the automatic valve, a supply port opening from the cylinder member to the valve chamber, and .a relief port opening from said valve chamber, and a valve in the valve chamber movable to and froma position to close the exhaust port and establish and cut off communication between the supply port or relief port and the supply passageway.

7. In a tool of the character set forth, the combinationwith a cylinder member having a piston chamber, of a piston in the chamber, an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamberto actuatethe piston, said cylinder member also having an: exhaust for fluid delivered to the piston chamber, means for directing fluid from the piston chamber to the automatic valve to hold it against automatic movement, and a reciprocatory valve for controlling the supply of holding fluid by said means to the automatic valve and simultaneously closing the said exhaust.

E 8. In a tool of the character set'forth; the

combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber, of a piston inthe chamber, an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to actuate the pis 7 ton and having opposing pressure surfaces,

means controlled by the piston for alternately causing fluid pressure against the surfaces to automatically shiftthe valve, said valve having a'third pressure surface, and means for causing the third pressure surface to be open to atmosphere and permit the said auto matic shifting of the valve and to cause fluid under pressure to be directed against said third pressure surface to stop the valve in a positionto permit thefreeflow of fluid into the piston chamber. 7

9. In a tool of the character set forth, the combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber, of a piston in the chamber, an automatic valve for distributing motive fluid to the piston chamber to actuate the piston, and having opposing pressure surfaces,- means controlled by the piston for alternately causing fluid pressure against the surfaces to automatically shift the valve, said valve hav ing a third pressure surface, and a valve movable between a position to cause the third pressure surface to be open to atmosphere and permit the said automatic shifting of the valve and to anotherposition to cut off said communication With the atmosphere and cause fluid under pressure to be directed against said third pressure surface to stop the valve in a position to permit the free flow of fluid into the piston chamber.

, In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

HJALMER C. GUSTAFSON," 

